The last double-header for the 2024 Australian Ice Hockey League season at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia saw the Brisbane Lightning come to town. The Lightning (and the Bluetongues previously) are known for their physicality and size of their players. This was highlighted by the 6foot 6inch Russia/Mongolian giant Batu Gendunov and other talls such as 6ft 4in Mitchell Dyck, 6ft 5in Mikko Rippon and 6ft 5in Julian Fodor. The Adrenaline aren’t known for their size, but they make up for it with agility! In goals for the Adrenaline would be Rylan Toth and for the Lightning on the Saturday, Curtis Meger. The Adrenaline had only just added Ukrainian Alexander Voronin (delayed due to visa issues) who had competed for the Ukrainian National Team, various teams in the Ukrainian league as well as in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and recently for Aosta in the Italy3 league. This had been brought about with the AIHL’s initiative for the 2024 season for teams to be able to add a Ukrainian player to their rosters, and to be counted as a local, not an import. In the standings, the Lightning were above the Adrenaline on the ladder and the Adrenaline needed to use the home ice advantage.
The first period scoring started with Lightning’s Mitchell Dyck scoring early in the period after some defensive errors to set the tone that the Lightning meant business. The assist came from Julian Fodor. The Adrenaline kept plugging away and Voronin had to get use to the Ice Arena’s small rink size and quality of ice as well as playing with new team mates as well as what the standard of the AIHL was. The Adrenaline were eventually rewarded when 3rd liner Ryan Foll potted the puck past Meger at the 5:56 mark after assists from Daniel O’Handley and Shaun Dosanjh. Lightning’s Bradley Campbell restored the one-goal lead a short time later at 4:13 after an assist from alternate captain Sasha Rapchuk. A penalty a minute later to Lightning’s Mikko Rippon did not result in a change to the score. Shots on goal for the period saw Toth face 8 shots to Novysedlak facing 7 shots.
The Lightning shot out to a 2-goal early in the 2nd period at 18:04 as Sasha Rapchuk beat the Adrenaline defence. The assist came from Sam Hodic. Lightning’s Arum Rapchuk would head to the penalty box at 11:05 for tripping, giving the Adrenaline the power play, but they were unable to capitalise on the player advantage. At 3:13, Adrenaline’s Sean Greer got frustrated with his Lightning opponent with the result being a 5min penalty for interference much to the vocal home crowd’s disgust with booing echoing throughout the Ice Arena. The Adrenaline were able to see off the penalty with no change in the score of 3-1. Shots on goal for the period saw Adrenaline’s Toth face 8 shots and Meger face 11 shots.
It was end to end hockey for the 3rd period with neither team finding a way past the goaltenders. A tripping minor penalty at 11:59 to Lightning’s Sam Hodic gave the Adrenaline a chance but they were unable to get through the Lightning’s defence and goaltender. The Adrenaline returned the favour when Kaden Elder was sent to the penalty box for roughing at 7:59 but their defence held firm. With about 3mins remaining the Adrenaline took off their goaltender Toth for another attacker, but it was all in vain as Lightning’s Arum Rapchuk found the empty net after receiving a pass from Gendunov. Shots on goal for the game saw Adrenaline’s Toth face 22 shots and the Lightning’s Meger face 28 shots.